However, Charles Carter also felt a burst of intense pain throughout his body. The terrifying blade aura struck him so hard that he could barely stay seated, so he quickly rolled to the ground and hid behind a horse’s rump. He almost got kicked flying by the horse’s hooves by accident.

Right before Charles Carter’s eyes, his own mount was sliced in two by that strange blade aura, its entrails spilling all over the ground.

At that moment, a long spear flew over from behind. The spear tore through the air, whipping up waves as it howled like a raging tide, passing right over Charles Carter’s head.

Zzzzz...

The spear pierced through the chests of more than a dozen soldiers in succession before finally crashing into a chariot, smashing it to pieces before coming to a stop. Charles Carter realized that an expert from his own side had made a move.

Chapter 0012: Ministry of Personnel Assessment

In just a few minutes, the two armies had closed in for hand-to-hand combat, turning the battlefield into a brutal melee of flesh and steel. All around, soldiers were collapsing in misery, blood spraying everywhere. If this kept up, it would only be a matter of time before he met the reaper himself. Charles Carter quickly seized the chance to dive into a pile of corpses, grabbing another armor talisman and keeping it at the ready.

The whole place was in utter chaos, even the air was tinged with the color of blood. Naturally, no one noticed that Charles Carter, this supposedly brave centurion, was actually playing dead.

Splat...

A freshly severed, still-steaming head landed right in front of Charles Carter. Looking closer, he realized it was actually a general’s head. He quickly reached out, hooked the head over, and stuffed it into his backpack—might as well take it back for some merit.

Lying in the pile of corpses, his eyes darted around and he noticed a few more generals’ bodies being tossed down from above. Even better, some primal stones rolled out of their pockets.

No reason not to pick them up—Charles Carter slowly went over and collected them all. In the end, he even stuffed all the generals’ gold ornaments and jade thumb rings into his backpack. With this money, he could buy more primal stones. Unfortunately, the generals’ heads were missing, so he couldn’t claim those merits.

The battle raged on in utter chaos, even General Grant had charged to the front lines. He was locked in combat with a burly man clad in gleaming black armor, a real ‘Mr. Mighty’ type.

The two of them were fine, but the surrounding soldiers weren’t so lucky. With every swing of their spear or blade, soldiers nearby fell, caught in the crossfire.

Just then, Charles Carter noticed a massive red arrow flying straight at General Grant’s back. The general was locked in a fierce struggle with the enemy and seemed unable to dodge in time. The red arrow was incredibly fast.

“General!” Charles Carter shouted, seeing his chance for glory. He activated his armor talisman and lunged toward the general, while tossing a fire spirit talisman toward the source of the red arrow.

Boom...

A faint sound rang out as the fire spirit talisman collided with the red arrow in midair. A thin red light flashed; although it couldn’t completely stop the arrow, the fire spirit talisman managed to sap most of its force. Naturally, the arrow slowed down considerably.

Charles Carter grabbed a shield, covered his back, and activated the armor talisman, bracing himself to take the hit. He had no idea if he could withstand it. Of course, this was a risky move for Charles Carter.

Thud...

Charles Carter tackled General Grant, sending them both flying back thirty or forty meters. The red arrow, by accident, struck the enemy general who had been fighting General Grant. That guy cursed and quickly retreated.

Charles Carter saw that the man had retreated right next to him. He unleashed a fire spirit talisman. With a muffled boom, the black-armored general, caught off guard and already drained from blocking the red arrow, lost his balance and collapsed.

Charles Carter certainly wouldn’t let this chance slip by. He raised his broadsword and brought it down hard, aiming for the black-armored general’s head.

But suddenly, a powerful force yanked him from the left. Charles Carter was pulled aside, only to realize that another red arrow had just grazed past him from behind, nearly scaring him into wetting his pants.

The one who pulled Charles Carter away was General Grant, and Charles Carter’s broadsword still managed to slash the black-armored general’s arm, sending a spray of blood as the left arm was severed and flew off.

“Philip Stone, your day has come.” George Grant seized the moment, thrusting his spear with lightning speed—thud, it pierced right through. The black-armored general Philip Stone, blood gushing, glared at Charles Carter with wide, unwilling eyes before collapsing.

But that guy was truly tough. In his final moment, he kicked out, his heavy boots flying through the air and knocking Charles Carter head over heels, sending him tumbling three times and landing half a foot deep in the bloody mud.

Did it hurt enough to make him scream? Maybe, but Charles Carter gritted his teeth, endured the pain, and scrambled back to Philip Stone’s corpse. He quickly took out a leather pouch and collected the blood still spurting from Philip Stone.

“What are you doing with that?” George Grant asked, stunned.

“I’m taking this villain’s blood back to feed the dogs. Maybe it’ll make our camp’s war dogs even stronger,” Charles Carter replied.

“Good, good, feed it to the dogs.” General Grant was greatly impressed by Charles Carter’s cleverness, since General Grant hated General Scott. And Philip Stone was General Scott’s right-hand man.

“Philip Stone is dead!” With that, George Grant let out a mighty roar, and the soldiers of the Yuan Kingdom began to panic.